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Darkstar416
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An interesting idea from The Downtown Bulletin about placing the entire 504 King streetcar in its own right-of-way. I know the city will never go for it, but it's still interesting to ponder...
Edward Nixon: Make King an end-to-end streetcar route
What ever happened to city building and specifically to improving transit? Certainly all is not hopeless: Union Station’s TTC station’s platform expansion just launched at the end of May (several years later than hoped). The St. Clair right-of-way finally got the go ahead earlier this year after the lawsuit launched by aggrieved Corso Italia merchants and fellow travelers was trounced. (Noted with interest and unknown by many down here, the Hillcrest Village merchants, just to the east, were largely in favour of the streetcar project.)
My recent west-coast trip reminded me of the vital need for big projects like the subway expansion into York region, something I think is necessary and significant. No more freeways into the outer ‘burbs; start creating density in the inner suburbs. We need real transit improvements in the inner core where densities are increasing rapidly (King West, City Place, St. Lawrence, Harbourfront,).
So let’s think closer to home. The King streetcar router is the busiest surface route in the city with volumes—55,000 riders or so a day—that would suggest a subway. As it is, it’s notoriously unreliable. It is also undoubtedly vital to many Downtown neighbourhoods and the whole central core itself. A couple of years ago the TTC floated a plan to put a right-of-way from Bathurst to Parliament, and this was roundly pilloried by some merchants, and by some hard-core car advocates and traffic-flow hardliners. The problem with the TTC plan was it did not go far enough.
The King car route should be on its own right of way from end to end. As a start, I would argue from Broadview to the Roncesvalles loop. And before anyone starts getting excited, let’s think about this. Most of the retail at grade in the west end are local services: neighbourhood pubs, dry cleaners and the like. No one much is driving to those businesses. In Old Town sections of King there is a significant high-end home furnishing “district.†But there is also lots of parking in and around the King “high-street†and how many people drive SUVs down from, say North Toronto, and put a $7,000 Italian-design sofa in the back? I would guess none. They get it delivered. Sure they may wish to pick up a lamp and pop it in the back but this can be done just as easily by store staff walking around the corner to take it the shopper’s car. As for the bars and clubs, much of the traffic is local, and people should not be out bar hopping by car at night in any case.
A 24-hour service route along King in its own right of way with traffic-light signal priority is feasible given an end to on-street parking and with available technology. The benefits would be significant, enhanced and reliable transit, a streetcar that really would come every five to eight minutes, and a route that would permit additional service to be added without worsening congestion.
Next month I would like to look at ideas for neighbourhood-level transit improvements. In the meantime let me know what you think about a streetcar right-of-way on King Street, write to me at enconsulting@sympatico.ca.
Edward Nixon: Make King an end-to-end streetcar route
What ever happened to city building and specifically to improving transit? Certainly all is not hopeless: Union Station’s TTC station’s platform expansion just launched at the end of May (several years later than hoped). The St. Clair right-of-way finally got the go ahead earlier this year after the lawsuit launched by aggrieved Corso Italia merchants and fellow travelers was trounced. (Noted with interest and unknown by many down here, the Hillcrest Village merchants, just to the east, were largely in favour of the streetcar project.)
My recent west-coast trip reminded me of the vital need for big projects like the subway expansion into York region, something I think is necessary and significant. No more freeways into the outer ‘burbs; start creating density in the inner suburbs. We need real transit improvements in the inner core where densities are increasing rapidly (King West, City Place, St. Lawrence, Harbourfront,).
So let’s think closer to home. The King streetcar router is the busiest surface route in the city with volumes—55,000 riders or so a day—that would suggest a subway. As it is, it’s notoriously unreliable. It is also undoubtedly vital to many Downtown neighbourhoods and the whole central core itself. A couple of years ago the TTC floated a plan to put a right-of-way from Bathurst to Parliament, and this was roundly pilloried by some merchants, and by some hard-core car advocates and traffic-flow hardliners. The problem with the TTC plan was it did not go far enough.
The King car route should be on its own right of way from end to end. As a start, I would argue from Broadview to the Roncesvalles loop. And before anyone starts getting excited, let’s think about this. Most of the retail at grade in the west end are local services: neighbourhood pubs, dry cleaners and the like. No one much is driving to those businesses. In Old Town sections of King there is a significant high-end home furnishing “district.†But there is also lots of parking in and around the King “high-street†and how many people drive SUVs down from, say North Toronto, and put a $7,000 Italian-design sofa in the back? I would guess none. They get it delivered. Sure they may wish to pick up a lamp and pop it in the back but this can be done just as easily by store staff walking around the corner to take it the shopper’s car. As for the bars and clubs, much of the traffic is local, and people should not be out bar hopping by car at night in any case.
A 24-hour service route along King in its own right of way with traffic-light signal priority is feasible given an end to on-street parking and with available technology. The benefits would be significant, enhanced and reliable transit, a streetcar that really would come every five to eight minutes, and a route that would permit additional service to be added without worsening congestion.
Next month I would like to look at ideas for neighbourhood-level transit improvements. In the meantime let me know what you think about a streetcar right-of-way on King Street, write to me at enconsulting@sympatico.ca.